THE TRUE COST OF COUNTRY LIVING

This morning I made a list of all the things we have done to this property since buying it, just before Christmas, at the end of '04. Then I made another list, of all the things we still need to do. It sort of blew me away, and it occurred to me that, if you are a city slicker like I used to be, you might have some misconceptions about what it would be like to escape to the country to live "The Simple Life."

Our original plan was to just buy some property here in Wimberley, build a tiny weekend place on it that could eventually become our guest house, and then build the main house when we were ready to retire and move up here full time. But, one day, we stumbled upon this...

...a smallish house with detached carport/utility room, sitting on four acres with a gorgeous view and a jim-dandy creek with a swimmin' hole! Best of all, since it was such an odd little house with no indoor staircase, and had been on the market for a very long time, we were able to get it for pretty much the same thing we paid for our too-big-house-on-a-teeny-tiny-lot in the Houston suburbs. We  saved ourselves the hassle of having to build another home from scratch, dealing with contractors, and making hundreds of fixture selections; we would have a fabulous weekend place for entertaining friends and family right from the get-go; and, as an added bonus, our daughter could live here during her senior year at Texas State, and save us the cost of renting an apartment for her! And, since the house and infrastructure were already in place, once we did decide to make it our full-time abode, we'd have nothing to worry about except the fun, inexpensive, cosmetic changes. Right?

The first thing we learned was that the locals weren't kidding when they described the Hill Country climate as "persistant drought with intermittent flooding." Turns out our great creek, with its natural water slide down into the "swimming hole", was a product of the flooding rains they had the week before we came property hunting. Shortly after that we entered a vicious two year drought, and the creek all but disappeared.  Next we learned about trying to landscape with drought. And deer. And armadillos. Thousands of dollars worth of plants went down the tubes before we finally started to get the hang of it. Then we figured out that a gravel driveway on a steep hill does not make a lot of sense. For one thing, gravel rolls downhill. For another, if you are driving up one, and make the mistake of pausing your vehicle for any reason, well, good luck getting started again. The clincher is all the nosedives you will take, heading down with the trash or to get the mail, when you step on a loose piece of gravel and your feet go flying out from under you. City people don't think about things like that.

$$ Paving the driveway and adding a gravel parking pad, plus resurfacing the driveway every couple of years $$

Once that paving project was out of the way, we started saving our pennies for another necessity, and a bit of fun. We started thinking about adding a spiral staircase somewhere inside the house, so you didn't have to go outside to get down to the guest room and man cave. But there really wasn't much space.

This was our original living/dining area, and we'd already had to choose between our sofa and our dining room table, because there wasn't room for both (it looked so much bigger when it was empty!). That's when we decided to steal a bit of space from our long balcony porch, to create a dining alcove. Unfortunately, that meant refinishing our wood floors as well, in order to get everything to match.

$$$ Dining Alcove Remodel $$$

When we got in touch with the home's original architect, to draw up the plans for this project, he ended up convincing us to add those stonework arches on the lower level. He'd always thought the tall skinny wood columns there were disproportionate, but the original owners disagreed. We loved the idea, and since we were going to need stone masons for the project, we figured we might as well go ahead and add the fire pit and patio we'd been thinking about, all at the same time.

Another thing most city people don't think about is all the time which areas with persistant drought spend with burn bans in place -- which means not building any outdoor fires, even if you have a beautiful new fire pit that you're dying to try out!

$$ Stonework Projects SS

One thing we loved most about this house on the hill was the great breezes we catch on a consistent basis. Sometimes, though, they're a little too great. City people don't think about what it means to be exposed on a hill. Not too long after we completed our big remodeling project, when daughter Alexis had graduated and moved off to California, and we were back at work in Houston, we got a call from a friendly neighbor up the hill. "Thought you'd want to know that your roof blew off last night." Literally, as it turns out. There was a storm, and a big gust of wind came along and picked the entire thing right up off the house, then scattered it across our property and beyond. The nice neighbor had called someone to help cover the big gaping hole with plastic until we could get up there to deal with insurance people, and get a new roof -- but not before there was a good bit of water damage.

$$$$ New Metal Roof, Water Damage Repairs, and Re-Refinishing Floors in 3 Rooms $$$$

This time we made sure the roof was attached to the beams with long, sturdy screws, and not just nails.

Next thing we knew, we were well into our second year of drought, and we kept hearing about people whose wells were going dry! City people don't think about things like that. We were afraid we wouldn't have enough water for ourselves when we moved up here full time, much less our plants. So we added gutters, laid pipes, bought a big ol' rain tank, and built the retaining wall and pad for it to sit upon.

$$ Water Catchment System $$

By then I was fed up with going back and forth between houses, and pining to be up here full-time. I quit my job and came on ahead of my hubby, to get started on turning this place into a real home. First on the agenda was a garden space with a bit of protection from the deer, and some raised beds, since our property was solid limestone. Once again we called on Architect Bob to lend us a hand, and this was the result.

$$$ Mexican Hacienda Courtyard Cantina Garden $$$

My hubby's bypass surgery got us to thinking about a future when we might not be as spry as we once were. Healthy people don't usually think about things like that. That's when we decided to tear out the awkward shower/tub combo in our master bath, add a nice walk-in shower and some shelving for towels in its place, and replace the flooring in both the kitchen and bath. I told you all about that here.

After that we figured we were pretty much done, which was a good thing, since hubby was finally ready to retire, and there would be no more bonuses and such to cover the cost of these projects. What we didn't really take into consideration is, what happens when a house and all it's systems and appliances pass that magical 15-year mark? People who have always moved into new houses, and then been transferred away before the homes were even five years old, don't really think about things like that.